9 Things Only Kids Who Stayed In A College Hostel Can Relate To

Written by Niharika Nayak, BA (Media & Communication)  • 

For many young Indians, college is often the first taste of adulthood they will experience. Whether they live away from home or with their parents, they will have to deal with a whole new life and a new set of responsibilities. However, there are a few things that only those who studied away from home and had to live in a hostel can relate to. Hostels also introduce us to people from various backgrounds and cultures. Living in a hostel is the first step towards gaining independence for a lot of young kids. So let’s look at fourteen things that every hosteler can relate to:

1. The Initial Homesickness 

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Let’s be real, no matter how turbulent your relationship with your parents might have been, you find yourself starting to miss home in the initial months of staying in a hostel. You’ll eat really sad mess food and miss your mom’s home-cooked meals. You’ll have days where you have to survive on nothing but coffee and Maggi. But, you eventually grow out of it and learn to appreciate the freedom that staying away from home gives you.

2. The Pure Hatred For Mess Food 

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No matter which university or college you attend, there is one thing that remains common across the country. And that is bland mess food. If you’re someone who’s a picky eater you will find yourself spending more and more of your limited pocket money on the street food stalls outside your college.

3. You Master The Act Of Time Management

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When you’re living in a hostel, especially if you have your own room, you rely heavily on your alarm clock to make it through the morning. Eventually, you get used to a certain time table and learn when is the best time to hit the mess and grab breakfast before morning class. Of course, this will take a lot of trial and error to accomplish.

4. You Curse The Hostel Wifi Router Every Time You Walk Past It

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Hostels are often synonymous with c**ppy Wi-Fi and the internet. You’ve probably faced a lot of issues when it came to connecting to the Wi-Fi and streaming online shows or gaming. However, this is a good way to break the ice with the rest of your hostel mates. Nothing bonds two people more than hurling “gaalis” at an unresponsive Wi-Fi router.

5. There Are Days When You Choose Partying Over Dinner

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Yes, we’ve all had those days where we just wanted to get drunk and have a good time. Unfortunately, that is often at the opportunity cost of missing out on eating dinner. Since most hostels have a “perm time” for their students, we’re expected to be back in our rooms by then. But hey, at least you have great pictures for the gram’!

6. Midnight Munchies With Maggi

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Every person who lived in a hostel definitely had Maggi packets stacked up for emergencies. Many times, hostels don’t have a mess attached to it and students have to resort to other tactics to eat some hot food. Every hosteler will advise you to carry an electric kettle with you for those 2-minute Maggi nights.

7. You’ve Formed A Bond With The Hostel Guard

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If you play your cards right, you can use a friendship with a hostel guard to get away with anything from breaking curfews to sneaking out to go buy food for your friends. Just make sure to give them the occasional treat and be nice to them in general. Kindness never hurt anybody.

8. Laundry Day Can Result In World War 3

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Most hostels have a limited number of washing machines and it’s often very difficult to gain access to them. You may often find yourself fighting with a hostel mate over who gets to access the machine first. The trick is to go during the day when most of the students are in college or napping in their rooms.

9. You’ve Secretly Smuggled Extra Mess Food Into Your Room

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We’ve all had days where we simply did not want to interact with anybody and sit inside the mess. While most messes don’t have an issue with their students packing food and eating it later, there are some messes that charge extra for packing food or just don’t give out extra food. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to get your grub on!

For those of us who’ve graduated and moved on from college, thinking about hostel life sends us on a bittersweet trail down memory lane. The sheer sense of freedom, independence, and knowledge we received truly does set us apart. Plus, it’s always fun to run into ex-batchmates who were in the same hostel as you. Do share some of your favorite hostel memories in the comment section below.

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